Mechanical hobbyhorse



June 14, 1932. J. O. HAHS MECHANICAL HOBBYHORSE Filed Feb. 21, 1951 2Sheets-Sheet l 8 m M v m June 14, 1932. HA 1,863,012

MECHANICAL HOBBYHORSE Filed Feb. 21, 1951 2 Sheets -Sheet 2 IIIIIIIIII'lllll hl;

I III/11A Patented June 14, 1932 UNITED, STATES JAMES OTTO HAHS, OFSIKESTON, MISSOURI MECHANICAL HOBBYI-IORSE Application filed February21, 1931. Serial No. 517,472.

The general object of this invention is to provide a mechanicallyoperated hobby-horse which, when placedin operation, will in a measuresimulate the motions of a horse in going through its various gaits, suchas loping, galloping and the like.

With the above object in view, the invention consists, essentially, inpivotally mounting the front and hind legs of the hobbyhorse on two setsof crank members, in the form of disks, which are caused to rotate atdifferential rates of speed, the legs being also pivotally mounted onthe body of the horse and means being provided for maintaining the bodyof the horse in the proper riding position, whereby, as the disks arerotated, the front and rear of the body of the hobbyhorse will bealternately raised and lowered, such motions varying in degree andcharacter according as one set of disks, driven at a higher rate ofspeed, advances the points of pivotal connection of the legs therewithrelative to the points of connection of the other legs with the otherset of disks, both sets of disks being simultaneously rotated from thesame source of power.

When the two points of pivotal connection of the legs with therespective sets of disks are positioned in parallel vertical planes, i.e., when said points are in the extreme upper position, or the extremelower position, the body of the hobby-horse will have a horizontalposition, and momentarily the motion of the body will be in an up anddown direction. As the pivots of the faster driven disks advance inposition relative to those of the slower driven disks, the body of thehobby-horse will be caused to assume an inclined position, whichincreases in degree of angularity to the maximum inclination, which isgoverned, primarily, by the diameters of the disks to which the legs arepiv--' oted; and this inclined position of the body of the hobby-horsemay occur either with the head down and the tail up, or vice versa. Anygiven position of the body of the hobbyhorse is maintained onlymomentarily, as the relative positions of the pivot points of the frontand hind legs are constantly changing,

which, of course, causes a constant changein the character of motion ofthe said body. As the speed of rotation of the drive is fixed, however,and the differential between the speeds of the two sets of driven disksis a known quantity, it follows that the motions of the body of thehobby-horse will occur in recurring cycles; that is to say, from an upand down movement with the body in a horizontal position through thevarious inclinations ofsaid body, with the head assuming the lowerposition, back to the horizontal position, and then through the variousinclinations of the body with the head in an elevated position back tothe horizontal position of the body. By reason of this constantvariation in the motions of the hobby-horse, it affords not onlypleasure and amusement to the person riding the hobby-horse, but italsois valuable in exercising the body, for the-Various motions, orgaits, of the hobby-horse not only require a certain amount of skill anddexterity on the part of the rider to maintain his seat, but suchvariable movements bring into play a greater number of muscles, andrequire the expenditure of energy exerted in more different positionsthan could possibly obtain were the movement of the hobby-horse uniformthrough the cycles of operation.

It is an object also of the invention to provide means for regulatingthe intensity of the movements of the hobby-horse by limiting toa=desired extent the degree of inclination whichthe body ofthehobby-horse may assume in the various cycles of movement.

With the .latter object in. view, I provide rods depending from the bodyof the hobbyhorse, which rods extend through swiveled guides, saidguides being mounted on an adjustable lever-arm, whereby they may beraised or lowered on said rods to change the pivot points thereof, sothat the degree of inclination of the body of the hobby-horse occurringin operation, may be reduced from a maximum, regulated by the size ofthe driving disks, through varying degrees to a minimum, regulatedby'the height to which the guides are adjusted on said rods.

Finally, there are various novel features entering into the constructionand operation.

opposite side to that tween which rods depending of my improvedhobby-horse, which will be clearly described in the course of thefollowing specification.

In the accompanying drawings- Fig. 1 is a view in side elevation of amechanical hobby-horse constructed according to my invention, showing infull lines a horizontal position of the body of the horse, and in dottedlines an extreme inclined position;

Fig. 2 is a similar view, showing the position of the body of thehobby-horse as shown by dotted lines in Fig. 1, but viewed from theshown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a horizontal sectional view showing in plan the base on whichthe hobbyhorse is mounted, the section being taken on the line of 33 ofFig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a horizontal sectional view through the base shown in Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a longitudinal sectional View taken on the line 55 in Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 is a cross sectional view, enlarged, taken on the line 6-6 ofFig. 5; and

Fig. 7 is a detail View, showing, in elevation and section,respectively, one of two similar sets of adjustable guide-rollers, be-

p from the body of the hobby-horse work.

Referring now to the drawings, the numeral 1 indicates a base supportingthe hobby-horse 2 and enclosing the operating mechanism therefor. Thehobby-horse co1n prises-abody, of any desirable size, that is to say, ofa sizeadapted for adults or of a smaller size adapted for children, andfront legs 3 and hind legs 4 which are pivoted, re

spectively, at the front and rear and on opposite sides of the body 2,as indicated for the front legs at'5, and for the hind legs at 6. Attheir lower extremities, the front legs 3 are pivotally connected at 7to cranks, preferably in the form of disks 8 located, respectively, onopposite sides of the rectangular base 1 and housed in circular recesses9 in the sides of said base. In a similar manner, the hind legs 1 arepivotally connected at 10 to disksll housed in recesses 12. The twopairs of disks 8 and 11 are adapted to'be rotated, respectively, atconstant but different rates of speed for the purpose of imparting avariety of' movements to the body 2 of the horse, and to this end Ipreferably employ the construction now to be described, al.- thoughother mechanism for imparting different rates of speed to the pairs ofdisks 8 ,and ll could be employed within the spirit of my invention.

Referring more particularly to Figs. 4, 5, and 6, the numeral 13indicates an electric motor, having a driving shaft 14 supported inbearings 15 mounted on the bottom of the base 1, and on which shaft areprovided two spaced worms, 16 and 17 The worm 16 is in mesh With a wormgear 18 having, say, fifteenteeth, and the worm 17 is-in mesh with aworm gear 19 having, say, twelve teeth. The worm gear 18 is fast on acrossshaft 20, on opposite ends of which the crank disks 8 are rigidlysecured. The worm gear 19 is fast on a cross-shaft 21 on opposite endsof which the disks 11 are rigidly secured.

In order to support the body 2 of the hobby-horse in a relativelyupright position, I provide the following mechanism:

Secured centrally on the underside of the body 2 is the upper end of arod 22 which is surrounded by a coil spring 23, the upper end of whichbears against the body and the lower end of which rests on the bottom ofa cup 24:, Fig. 6, which is supported by rocking bearings 25 at itsupper end on a circular flange 26 surrounding an enlarged opening 27formed in the top 28 of the base 1. The bottom of cup 2 1 is providedwith an aperture 29 through which the rod 22 extends.

From the above description it will be seen that the body 2 of thehobby-horse is yieldingly supported on and by the coil spring 23, and asthe spring exerts constant upward pressure on said body, it tendstoprevent, in conjunction with rod 22, the hobby-horse from fallingbackward or forward on to the base 1, which would otherwise occur,owingto the fact that the legs of the horse are pivotally mounted atboth their upper and lower ends. At the same time the cup 2 1 is free torock on bearings 25 to permit of the spring 23 and rod 22 assumingangular positions in the rocking movement of the hobby-horse, asindicated in Fig. 2.

From the description as thus far given, it will be seen that as thedisks 8 and 11 are rotated, the front and rear of the body 2 of thehobby-horse will be alternately raised and lowered from a momentaryhorizontal position, such as shown in full lines in Fig. 1, when thepivots 7 and 10 are simultaneously in the extreme upper position; or ofcourse, when such pivots are in the extreme lower position. It willfurther be seen that as the disks 11 are rotated at a higher rate ofspeed than the disks 8, owing to the fact that the worm gear 19 drivingthe shaft 21, on which said disks 11 are mounted, has a less number ofteeth than the worm gear 15, the body 2 will be gradually changed fromany given position it may occupy, from the horizontal position shown inFig. 1 to the extreme inclined position shown in Fig. 2, in which thehead of the hobby-horse occupies the higher elevation; or to an extremeinclined position in which the rear of the hobby-horse will occupy thehigher elevation. The result is that the motion of the body 2 is notuniform, but during any cycle of movement of the disks 8 and 11 therewill be a gradual change in either the elevation of the head or tail ofthe horse, so that the resultant movement very closely simulates thevarious gaits of an actua1 horse in movement, such as in Walking,trotting, pacing, galloping, etc.

The invention also includes the provision of adjustable means formodifying the degrees of angularity through which the body 2 may pass inits rocking movement.

l/Vith the latter object in view I secure at their upper ends onopposite sides of the body 2, two rods 30, which pass through aperture31 formed in the top 28 of the'base near opposite sides thereof, Fig. 6,and which pass between and in engagement with two-grooved frictionrollers 32, Fig. 7, which are rotatably mounted between two parallelplates 33. The plates 33, being united by the axles 34 of the tworollers, form acage, the construction being the same at each side of thebase for each of the rods 30. Each of these cages is swiveled at 35 Fig.7 to a bent arm 36, which arms are united at their outer ends asindicated at 37, Fig. 4 to the inner end of the lever-arm 38 which ispivotally mounted near its outer end, as indicated at 39 in Figs. 4 and5, between the upper ends of two bracket arms 40, which are secured attheir lower ends on the bottom of the base, as indicated by 41 in Fig.4. The rods 30 extend upward through slots 42 in the top 28 of the baseand are thus free to assume different angular positions occasioned bythe movement of the g body 2. The numeral 43, Figs. 1, 2, and 5,indicates an adjusting screw passing through the top of the base and atits lower end bearing against the upper outer end of the lever arm 38.With the adjustment such that the body 2 of the hobby-horse will havethe widest range of angular movement, by unscrewing the adjusting screw43 so as to permit the cages carrying rollers 32 to be lowered inposition on rods 30, the range of movement of the pivots 5 and 6 will beshortened, and the motion of the hobby-horse will be more or lessgentle, according to the extent to which the cages are lowered. On theother hand, by screwing down the adjusting screw 43 to cause the cagesto assume a higher position on rods 30, the severity of movement may beincreased to any desired extent up to the maximum. A lock nut 44 is usedto secure screw 43 in any adjusted position.

The rods 30, in addition to their function of controlling theangularpositions of the hobby-horse, also cooperate with spring 23 and rod 22in maintaining the same in riding position.

While I have illustrated and described the preferred embodiment of myinvention, I wish it understood that my invention is susceptible ofother embodiments without departing from the spirit thereof.

I claim:

1. A mechanically operated hobby-horse comprising, in combination, abase having on opposite sides thereof two pairs of rotatablecrank-members, a horse body having front 2; A mechanically operatedhobby-horse, comprising, in combination, a base having a pair of crossshafts rotatably mounted therein, each of which is provided with a crankat each end, a horse body having front and hind legs pivotally securedat their upper ends thereto and attheir lower ends to said cranks,means'for yieldingly supporting said body and means for rotating saidrespective sets of cranks continuously at different rates of'speed. V

3; A mechanically operated hobby-horse comprising, in combination, abase having a 7 pair of cross-shafts rotatably mounted'here- (in, acrank-disk secured at the outer end of each of said cross-shafts, a pairof worm gears having different numbers of teeth fixedly secured on therespective cross-shafts, a motor, a shaft driven by said motor andhaving two worms engaging the respective worm gears, whereby tosimultaneously drive the same at different rates of speed, a horsebodyha'ving front and hind legs'pivotally connected to said body attheir upper ends and tosaid crank-disks at their lower ends, and meansfor yieldingly supporting said bodyon said base.

4. A mechanically operated hobby-horse comprising, in combination, apair of crossshafts rotatably mounted therein and each of which isprovided with a crank-member at each end, a horse body having front andrear legs pivotally connected at their upper ends to said body'and attheir lower ends to the respective crank-members, a rod secured at itsupper end to the underside of said body and'passing downward throughsaid base, a coil spring surrounding" said rod and interposed betweenthe'base and said body,.and .means for rotating said crank-diskssimulends to the respective crank-members, means for yieldinglysupporting the body of the horse on said base, means for controlling the"degrees of angularity assumed by thehorse in' operation, and means forsimultaneously rotating the respective pairs of crank-mem- "bers. atdifferent rates of'speed.

6. A mechanically operated hobby-horse comprising, in combination, abase having on opposite sides thereof two pairs of rotatablecrank-members, ahorse body having, front and hind'legs pivotallyconnected attheir imam .and hindelegs ,of the,hobby-horse to alternatelyraise and lower the same to cause the bodyof. the hobby-horse to assumevarlous uangl la fp siilionssin recurring cycles.

'lntestiinony-whereof, Ihave hereunto set my hand.

. JAMES OTTO .HAHS.

between the hobby-horse and the base toyieldingly support the former,front and hind legs pivotally mounted at their upper ends on the body ofthe hobby-horse, crankrmembers mounted on said base and pivotallyconnected in pairs to the lower ends of said legs, and

means for simultaneously rotatingthe two pairs of crank-members atdifferent rates of speec 8. A mechanically operated hobby-horsecomprising, in com ination, a base, av cup having a rocking support onsaid base, a hobby-horse having a depending rod secured centrally of itsunderside and projecting through the bottom of said cup, a coil springsurrounding said rod and bearing at its upper end against the undersideof the hobby-horse and having its lower end housed in said cup, whereby,to yieldingly support the hobbyhorse, front and hind legs pivotallymounted at their upper ends on the body of the hobbyhorse, crank-membersmounted on saiddoase and pivotally connected in pairs to the lower endsof said legs, and means forsimultaneous- 1y rotating the two pairs ofcrank-members at different rates of speed.

9. A mechanically. operated hobby-horse comprising, in combination, abase, ahobbyhorse yieldingly mounted thereon, front and hindlegspivotally connected at their upper endsto the body of said horse,rotatable crank-members mounted on said base and pivotally connected,respectively, to the lower ends of the front andrear legs, means forsimultaneously rotating the two sets of crankmembers at different ratesof speed, rods connect-ed to opposite sides of the body of thehobby-horse and slidably' mounted in said base, a movable guide, foreach of saidrods,

and means forsimultaneouslyraising or lowering said guides to vary thedegree of the angular positions assumed by the body of the horse in themovement thereof occasionedby the rotation of said crank-members.

10. A mechanically operatedhobby-horse comprising, in combination, abase, a-hobbyhorse yieldingly supported thereon having front and hindlegs and capable of assuming angular positions, and differentialmechanism for simultaneously operating upon the front

